When on his death bed King Robert the Bruce assembled around him the nobles and counsellors whom he had most trusted, whom he informed that it had been his intention had he lived to have gone to Jerusalem to make war upon the Saracens who held the Holy Land; as some expiation for the evil deeds of his life, more particularly for the murder of the Red Comyn. But as he was about to die, he wished his heart to be taken to Palestine, and entrusted the sacred office to Sir James "the Good" Douglas, who, accompanied by Sir William St.Clair of Roslin, Sir Robert Logan, and many other Scottish barons, started on the journey, but were fated never to reach the intended destination. Hearing that Alonzo, King of Castile and Leon, was fighting against Osmyn, the Moorish Governor of Grenada, the Scots, having regard to the religious nature of their mission and the vows they had taken before leaving Scotland, viewed the cause of Alonzo as a holy warfare; and before proceeding to Jerusalem determined to first visit Spain, and signalise their prowess against the Saracens. They met in action near Theba, on the Andalusian borders, when the Moorish cavalry suffered defeat, but the Scottish warriors, advancing too eagerly in the pursuit, were surrounded by a strong division of the Moors, which had rallied on seeing them so far from the main body of the Spanish army. Sir William St.Clair of Roslin had been foremost in the chase of war, as in the chase of the hunting field. His perilous position was manifest. "Yonder worthy knight will be slain", Douglas said, "unless he have instant help. "With that he galloped to his rescue, but in attempting it became inextricably involved with the enemy and perished in company with his comrades, Sir William St.Clair, Sir Robert Logan, and divers others (on the 8th September, 1330 [Balfour's Annals]). It will he sufficient for the purposes of this work to submit the closing verses of Ayton's well known poem: -
THE HEART OF BRUCE
(W.E. AYTOUN)
The trumpets blew, the cross-bolts flew,
The arrows flashed like flame,
As spur in side and spear in rest,
Against the foe we came.
And many a bearded Saracen
Went down, both horse and man;
For through their ranks we rode like corn,
So furiously we ran !
But in behind our path they closed,
Though fain to let us through,
For they were forty thousand men,
And we were wondrous few.
We might not see a lance's length,
So dense was their array;
But the long fell sweep of the Scottish blade
Still held them hard at hay.
"Make in ! make in!" Lord Douglas cried,
"Make in, my brethren clear!
Sir William of Saint Clair is down;
We may not leave him here !"
But thicker, thicker, grew the swarm,
And sharper shot the rain,
And the horses reared amid the press,
But they would not charge again,
"Now Jesu help thee," said Lord James,
"Thou kind and true Saint Clair!
An' if I may not bring thee off,
I'll die beside thee there!"
Then in his stirrups up he stood,
So lion-like and bold,
And held the precious heart aloft
All in its case of gold.
He flung it from him, far ahead,
And never spoke he more,
But "Pass thee first, thou dauntless heart,
As thou wert wont of yore !"
The roar of fight rose fiercer yet,
And heavier still the stour,
Till the spears of Spain came shivering in,
And swept away the Moor.
"O Bothwell banks ! that bloom so bright
Beneath the sun of May,
The heaviest cloud that ever blew
Is bound for you this day.
And, Scotland, thou may'st veil thy head
In sorrow and in pain;
The sorest stroke upon thy brow
Hath fallen this day in Spain!
We'll hear them back unto our ship,
We'll bear them o'er the sea,
And lay them in the hallowed earth,
Within our own countrie"